Mr. Fred Matthews:

I have been self-employed as a pharmacist all my life and I am now 62 years of age. I have employed between 20 and 25 persons for up to 25 years at a time and contributed millions of euro in tax to the State. Three years ago my financial well-being hit a wall and I am now treated as worthless by the State. My daughters decided to go back to education and, because they did not understand the social welfare system and had worked up until the time they sat the leaving certificate examination, were unable to access grants. They had worked until the month of May, sat the leaving certificate examination and obtained their places. However, if they had gone on the dole or received jobseeker's allowance in February, they would have been fully funded by the State. I went to the VEC and other places looking for help because I did not have the ability to fund the fees. I came out of the VEC in tears; I felt humiliated. At 59 years of age the State had nothing for me. I went back to work. All I understand is that, as an individual, I can create wealth and generate an income. It is humiliating that my adult daughters, because I am perceived to have the wealth I used to have, are being put through the mill to receive a basic education. It is stressful and I have had to attend for counselling to get myself in fit shape to live a life. It has affected my whole family. This is the impact on the self-employed. I am independent, but what I do is lunacy. I create wealth instead of finding a job. People tell us it cannot be done, but one goes and does it. That is the core of independent SMEs, but it is being decimated and savaged by being ignored. That independence leaves us totally isolated because we are easily picked off.

I am looking for leadership from members and the Deputies and Senators who lead the country. They give me the impression that they are on this treadmill that was vacated by the Fianna Fáil-led Government and that they are busy running, but they lack a vision for the future. Without the ability and support of SMEs, the country will collapse totally because they create the wealth and employment. I employed 25 persons; now I am indebted everywhere. Social services which are within the remit of the committee should be available to me and my family when needed. No one should feel like a second-class citizen in the State.

Social services, which fall under the remit of this committee, should be available to me and my family when needed, and one should not be made feel like a second-class citizen. I ask that the system be changed so families associated with SMEs can have access to social services.

Normally SMEs go to the credit union when they are stuck. I realise this is not in the remit of the committee. The credit unions are currently being crucified. To date, the organisation has not received one shilling from the State, yet it is being posited as a failure. The unions were established by SMEs and people such as myself and my father, yet we cannot get money from them either.

Where does a person such as me go for money to educate my daughters? The State does not give them support by way of social protection. We have learned a lesson. One of my daughters had a baby, went on maternity leave and is now on the jobseeker's allowance. She buys my rugby tickets and funds my trips if I want to go away because I cannot afford them. That is the current position; it is the state of the world in which I live. While I will get nothing off the State - I do not expect to - it should at least treat my family fairly.